The work of true visionaries is often marked by controversies during their lifetimes and beyond. This is also the case of the Swiss architect Charles-Edouard-Jeanneret-Gris, better known as Le Corbusier, who died this month 50 years ago. Though widely influential and hailed as a brilliant...

Swiss architect Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris—better known as Le Corbusier (1887–1965)—is renowned around the world for his modernist designs, which emphasized functionality, bold lines, and the use of materials like concrete, iron, and glass. Last week, UNESCO listed 17 of his buildings—which are, literally and figuratively, groundbreaking—as...